


Pink Sparkles

by ThirdGenerationRockette



Category: The Newsroom (US TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Kidfic, Post-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-22
Updated: 2018-02-22
Packaged: 2019-03-22 16:16:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13767816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThirdGenerationRockette/pseuds/ThirdGenerationRockette
Summary: Muttering "shit" under his breath, he sees Thomas's eyes widen and knows it wasn't quite as far under his breath as he'd hoped, so he grins at him and puts the tray down, handing him his milk and the plate holding the muffin.





	Pink Sparkles

It's cold out and as they turn the corner the wind hits him and he feels Thomas tighten his grip on his hand. Looking down at the same moment his son looks up, he grins at him, his little red hat firmly on his head, his cheeks pink as he returns the grin.

"You okay, little guy?" he asks.

"It's cold, Daddy!" he says, his eyes wide as he swings on Will's hand.

"Then it's a good thing we're going to get hot chocolate, right?" He opens the door and ushers Thomas ahead of him, patting the top of his head affectionately as he thinks about how he never tires of hearing either of his boys calling him Daddy.

It's quiet, unsurprisingly given how cold it is out, and there are only a couple of people in line ahead of them, nobody yet behind, and a host of empty tables. Will knows which table Thomas will choose, right beside the window where he can watch everyone go by. He's like Mackenzie in so many ways, his natural curiosity no exception, as well as his love of conversation, so Will knows he can expect a morning of Thomas pointing out things that interest him and following up with numerous questions. Henry so far shows signs of being a little more serious, quieter, a tiny frown frequently occupying his two year old face, although Will knows it could all change as he grows.

He loves watching each of them as they get older, their faces, their mannerisms, their personalities developing more with each passing day. They've ended up with two boys who are sweet and loving, funny little replicas of their parents in many ways but with traits all their own. Thomas has his eyes, but Mackenzie's hair, her smile. Henry is blonde, his eyes blue too but darker like Mackenzie's, and sometimes Will can't resist watching the two of them as they play, or when Mackenzie is reading to them, and he never fails to marvel at how perfect they are.

"Alright, what are we having?" He looks down at Thomas whose nose is pressed up close to the glass, trying to see what he wants to eat. "You want to get up here so you can see properly, buddy?"

Thomas nods and holds up his arms, waiting for his father to scoop him up, grinning when he does. He turns and looks again at the selection in front of him, his little face creased in concentration.

"Chocolate muffin, Daddy." He points at it and Will grins, not surprised at the choice, his eldest son is usually drawn to the chocolate option where there is one. He quickly adds a "please", remembering his manners, as he usually does.

"And hot chocolate?" Will asks, pulling the hat off his son's head and running a hand over his soft dark hair, almost the exact shade of Mackenzie's but with a wave hers doesn't have.

"No." Thomas shakes his head firmly. "Milk, and a chocolate muffin."

"Good choices, kiddo." Will smiles at him as they move along in the line. "How about we take something home for Mommy and Henry. Do you want to pick something?"

"Yeah!" He turns his attention back to the food on display and bites his lip as he ponders the choices, in a gesture that is pure Mackenzie, and makes Will grin. "Cake pop for Mommy, donut for Henry."

Will smiles and kisses Thomas's forehead before putting him back down and taking his hand again. The barista smiles at Will, and then beams at Thomas who smiles back slightly shyly as Will orders, holding tight onto him. When Will asks for the donut and the cake pop to take out, he feels his son tugging on his hand and glances down to see him pointing up at something.

"Pink sparkles for Mommy," he says, pointing at the cake pops and smiling as the barista holds it up and waits for his nod before she puts it into a bag.

"Thanks." Will smiles and hands over the cash before they move to the end of the bar to wait for their drinks. He looks down at Thomas and hands him the bag to take home for Mackenzie and Henry. "Do you think you could take this, and go choose a table for us, Tom Tom?"

"At the window, Daddy?" Thomas points at the tables Will thought he would, carrying the bag over and sitting down to wait for him.

Will is just at the table and about to put the tray down in front of Thomas when he spots a familiar face heading towards them, a face he hasn't seen in a long time. Muttering "shit" under his breath, he sees Thomas's eyes widen and knows it wasn't quite as far under his breath as he'd hoped, so he grins at him and puts the tray down, handing him his milk and the plate holding the muffin. Standing up he finds himself face to face with Nina Howard, standing beside their table, arms folded in front of her, the expression on her face completely unreadable.

"Hi Will." She nods, glances at Thomas who has started on his chocolate muffin and is watching a huge truck attempting to reverse into a spot outside the window, and back again at Will. "How are you?"

"Good," he says, running his hand through his hair, feeling suddenly awkward. "Yeah, good, thanks. You?"

"Oh you know..." She waves a hand dismissively and smiles. "Busy...good, thanks. And Mackenzie?"

"She's fine, really well, she's at home with Henry, he's..." He catches sight of Thomas attempting to unzip his coat and coming dangerously close to sending the milk flying off the table. "Sorry, just a second."

He moves to where Thomas is sitting and pushes the milk to safer ground closer to the middle of the table, watching as his son continues to wrestle with his coat, before he finally looks up at him, a frustrated frown on his face so serious Will has to bite back a laugh.

"You need a hand with that, buddy?" he asks, smiling softly at him and reaching to move a piece of muffin from Thomas's hand to the plate, prepared for his reaction and ready with reassurance. "I'm not taking it away, but how about we leave it on the plate just while we figure this coat out, okay?"

"Okay." Thomas sighs and his little hands ball into frustrated fists and drop to the table. "I can do it, Daddy."

"I know you can," he says softly, unzipping the coat partway and then letting go. "But sometimes things get stuck and you need a little help, and that's okay. There, now I bet you can do the rest of it all by yourself, right?"

Thomas unzips the coat and takes it off, dropping it onto the chair beside him and grinning proudly at Will who returns it and holds up his hand, waiting for his son to give him a high five, which he does almost instantly.

"Good job, Thomas," he says, watching as his son goes back to his chocolate muffin before he turns back to Nina, who's smiling at Thomas, watching him licking chocolate from his fingers with total determination.

"He's really sweet, Will." Her voice is soft and her tone so genuine that it surprises him and he can only nod as she continues. "Adorable, actually...he's three now?"

"Four, last month," he says, watching as Thomas reaches for his milk. "Thanks, he's a good kid. They both are."

"I can't believe how much he looks like Mac, you know," she says. "He has her smile."

"I know," he replies with a faint shrug. "How else do you think he has me wrapped right around his little finger?"

"I can see that." She smiles and he returns it, the awkwardness fading slightly, even as he notes the sadness in her smile. She looks at Thomas again and his gaze follows hers. "You're really good with him."

"I guess, yeah...thanks," he says, knowing she's right. It's taken him a while, and lots of reassurance from Mackenzie, but he knows he's a good father and he can say without hesitation that his relationship with her and their boys are his proudest achievements, but it still doesn't come naturally to accept those kinds of compliments from others.

"Tell your friend what we have in the bag, Daddy," Thomas says suddenly, looking up at Will, his face smeared with chocolate as he smiles.

"Why don't _you_ tell me?" Nina smiles back at him and he glances at Will who nods his encouragement.

"We have a donut for Henry, he's my brother, he's really just a baby, but he likes donuts..." Thomas pauses and smiles back at her before he carries on. "And a cake pop for Mommy. With sparkles!"

"A cake pop? And sparkles too?" Nina grins at him. "Wow, I'm sure she'll love that." 

"Oh, she will," Thomas says definitively before turning to take another bite of his muffin. 

"Well, I should..." Nina gestures towards the counter and Will nods at her.

"Yeah, sure, and I should..." He nods his head in Thomas's direction. "I'm glad you're well, Nina."

"You too," she says as she starts to walk away, pausing and turning back to him. "I hope you appreciate everything you have, Will. I hope you're thankful every day for it...I would be."

"Daddy?" Thomas pats his arm softly and Will sits down next to him.

"You enjoying your muffin?" he asks, putting his arm around his son's shoulder and kissing the top of his head.

"It's good, but the milk splashed a bit on the table," Thomas says, looking up at him, and pointing at the small puddle of milk beside the glass. "Look."

"Don't worry about that, it's fine, Will smiles as he takes a napkin and wipes the milk away, dropping the napkin onto the tray and picking up his coffee. "All clean now, see?"

"Yep." Thomas grins at him. "All clean."

*

She's kneeling on the floor, the window box sitting on a pile of newspapers, and she's about to start putting the plants in when she hears the front door close and Thomas's unmistakable footsteps bounding towards the kitchen. He appears in the doorway and stops, confused when he sees her down on the floor, but rushing towards her anyway.

"Hi sweetie." She smiles as he stands beside her, a brown bag in his hand, a small dab of chocolate on his cheek that she guesses Will must have missed during clean up time.

"You're on the floor, Mommy?" he asks, tilting his head and letting her pull him towards her to unzip his coat and kiss him, rubbing her nose gently against his.

"I'm going to put some plants in the window box to make it look pretty," she says, smiling at him. "Do you want to help?"

"Yep." He nods enthusiastically and seems to suddenly remember the brown bag in his hand, handing it to her with a grin. "We got things for you and Henry."

"You did? Thank you." She takes the bag and peeks inside. "Is the donut for Henry?"

"Yeah, but look what's for you, Mommy, a cake pop!" He grins as she pulls it out of the bag and holds it up.

"A cake pop? For me?" She leans forward and drops another kiss on his smiling mouth. "Thank you, honey. I think you and I should do the planting and then I'll eat my cake pop. What do you think?"

"Okay." He takes off his coat and drops it on the floor behind him. She is just about to tell him to pick it up and hang it properly when Will walks in and over to them.

"Is that where we hang our coats, buddy?" He picks the coat up and holds it up, watching the frown cross his son's face.

"No, but I'm helping Mommy," he says, turning to face his father.

"I'm sure Mommy is happy to wait for you for two minutes while you hang up your coat." He watches Thomas debate the issue in his head for a few seconds before he takes the coat and heads back into the hallway, where they have a mini coat stand for the boys alongside their own.

"Hey." He leans down and kisses the top of Mackenzie's head, grinning as she squeezes his thigh from where she sits on the floor. "Is Henry napping?"

"Yeah." She nods and frowns faintly, sighing. "He doesn't seem quite himself this morning, I hope he isn't coming down with something."

“Did he throw up?” Thomas asks as he runs back into the kitchen, his eyes lighting up, reminding her of his current obsession with all things vomit related.

“No.” She shakes her head, smiling at him. “He didn’t throw up, he’s just a little bit grouchy this morning.”

“He can have his donut,” Thomas says, his face turning serious. “He’ll feel better then.”

“I think you’re right.” She ruffles his hair, laughing when he looks at her with a hint of outrage. “Okay, let’s start on these plants, mister, and maybe Daddy can go check on Henry.”

Will smiles at the two of them and heads out of the kitchen, and when she turns back to Thomas he’s standing with one hand on his chin, looking at the plants in concentration, looking just as Will does when there’s something in his script he isn’t happy with.

“I like the pink ones." Thomas settles down on his knees beside her, touching the petals of the dark pink cyclamen, gently, just like she showed him last time they did this.

“Then let’s plant the pink ones first.” She taps the pot on the newspaper to loosen the plant and hands Thomas the small trowel. “Do you remember how to do it, baby?”

“I’m not a baby, Mommy.” He looks at her and she holds back a laugh at his disgruntled look. “Henry’s a baby, but I’m not.”

“Of course not,” she says. “Silly Mummy, you’re my big boy, so I’m sure you remember how to do this, right?”

She watches as he nods and starts to make a space in the window box with his trowel, biting his lip as he slowly makes a bigger hole, looking up at her, smiling as she nods her approval.

“Did you have fun getting coffee with Daddy?” she asks, shaking the cyclamen from the pot and helping him sit in into the window box before pulling back to let him pat down the dirt around it.

"I had milk and a chocolate muffin,” he says, pausing to push down with both hands around the base of the plant. “And Daddy had coffee and he talked to a lady."

"Oh?” She raises an eyebrow and reaches for the next pot to loosen the ivy from it. “Was it a lady you know, Tom Tom?"

"No…and Daddy said a bad word when he saw her.” He looks up at her and holds up his dirt covered hands with a grin. “But then I got a muffin."

She hands the second plant to him, a trailing ivy to go in between the two pink cyclamen, and he puts it into the space he’s just made, again patting it down with his hands, already filthy so with nothing to lose. Looking up, she smiles as Will walks back in with an awake but sleepy-looking Henry in his arms.

“All my boys are here,” she says as Will returns her smile and Henry tucks his face against his father’s neck. “Hey pumpkin, are you still sleepy?”

Will sits down, Henry on his lap, the toddler's eyes fixed on Thomas, his hands holding tightly to Will’s sweater. Thomas stands up and turns to them, ruffling his brother’s hair, making Mackenzie smile, knowing he’s copying what he sees them do.

“Donut, Henry?” He moves closer and grins at Henry, reaching for the bag on the table, stopping only when Will catches his arm.

“How about we let Henry wake up a little, you and Mommy finish planting and then we can wash your hands, and Henry can have his donut?” Will says, gently steering Thomas’s grubby hands back towards where the newspaper on the floor will catch any dropped dirt. “How does that sound?”

“And Mommy can eat her cake pop too?” he asks, as he kneels down again and waits for Mackenzie to hand him the final plant to bed into the window box.

“She sure can.” Will smiles at him and hands Henry the juice he’s reaching for on the table in front of him.

“So…Thomas says you guys had fun this morning,” Mackenzie says, taking the trowel out of her son’s hands as he puts his palms flat into the dirt to push the final cyclamen into place. “And that you said a bad word.”

“He did.” Thomas interjects but doesn’t look up from what he’s doing. “Like you said when you broke the plate.”

"Really?" Will looks at her, a smug look on his face.

"Who did you run into?" she asks as Will's smirk quickly disappears.

"What? When?" She knows his panic face and he's wearing it now as he answers. "Oh, yeah, um briefly, really briefly, we ran into Nina Howard."

"You know you don't have to use her full name," she says, standing up and taking Thomas to the sink to wash the dirt from his hands. "If you just said Nina I doubt I'd wonder if you were talking about Nina Simone."

"Because she's been dead for years?" He pauses, reaching for the bag and opening it to show Henry what's inside.

"Yeah, exactly that." She brings Thomas to the table and slides a plate in front of Henry, watching as Will puts the donut on it. "Well, that and as far as I know you never had a thing with Nina Simone."

"Nope, never did." He breaks the donut in half and hands a piece to Henry and one to Thomas. "I just wouldn't want you to think-"

"I don't think anything." She stops him, gestures at him to pass her the bag, watching Thomas's eyes widen as she pulls out the cake pop. "She doesn't cross my mind, Billy, not ever. You _could_ say 'I bumped into Nina today, she seems well' without it sending me on a killing spree, you know, for future reference."

"Okay." He nods, a hint of a sheepish smile on his lips. "She asked how you were, and she said something sort of...well, I kind of got the impression she envies my life, or our life, I guess."

"Pretty sure it's _my_ life she envies," she says, twirling the cake pop on the stick and grinning as Thomas giggles. "I really don't think it's me she wishes she'd married."

"Sparkles, Mommy," Thomas says, taking another bite of the donut and giving her a crumb filled grin.

"I love the sparkles, sweetie." She takes a bite of the cake pop and leans over to tweak his nose playfully, glancing up at Will as she feels his eyes on hers. "Did you have pink sparkles too, honey?"

"I had a croissant, actually, and it was totally lacking in sparkles." He picks up a piece of donut Henry has managed to drop onto his lap, popping it into his mouth.

"Well, you're no fun at all," she says, standing up and smiling at him. "I'm going to put some coffee on."

She has just hit the button to turn the coffee machine on and is reaching for the mugs when she feels his arms slide around her, making her jump because she assumed he was still at the table with the boys. He turns her around, pushing her back against the kitchen counter and lifting her chin, brushing his thumb slowly across her bottom lip. When he leans forward and kisses her, it's slow and sweet, and she sighs into him when he pulls away, his thumb returning to her mouth and this time she kisses it and smiles.

"What was that for?" she asks, thrown slightly off balance by the look in his eyes as he gazes at her.

"Nothing, really..." He shakes his head and his eyes are still fixed firmly on hers. "I guess, just...everything."

“You’re such a mushy fool, you know,” she says, but she doesn’t mind, not at all. He’s always been the more tactile one and she loves his touch as much now as she ever did, probably even more. She’s also well aware that he has a list of things that still send him into a fog of guilt, and Nina Howard is on that list, more specifically what he was doing for six months with her. So if he wants to reassure her of something she absolutely knows, she isn’t going to stop him.

“I know.” He shrugs and she smiles at him before glancing over his shoulder and groaning slightly. “What?”

“Your sons appear to have decided their mother doesn’t need the remainder of her cake pop and are gnawing on it like two tiny savages.” They turn and watch as Thomas nibbles on the cake pop before handing it to Henry who already has the rest of his donut squashed between his fingers. “Let’s see how this one plays out.”

“Like watching the monkeys at the zoo fighting over the bananas…” he says with a wry grin, making her snort.

“Those are our precious babies you’re talking about.” She prods him gently on the arm and he laughs. “But I can see that it’s not entirely dissimilar.”

When Henry has taken a bite, Thomas tries to take the cake pop out of his hand, sighing when his brother refuses to hand it over, shaking his head and trying to pull it out of reach.

“No.” He shakes his head again and takes a bite of his donut, completely ignoring the cake pop in his other hand that he’s refusing to give up. “Henny’s pop!”

“Henry, it’s my turn.” Thomas frowns and there are a few anxious seconds where both Will and Mackenzie wonder if he’s simply going to grab it out of Henry’s hand and war will begin. Instead their eldest son sighs and moves closer to his brother, staring at the cake pop.

“It’s not yours, Henry! It’s mine too, and Mommy’s and Daddy’s.” He raises his voice and makes one more attempt to take the cake pop. “It’s Henry’s, and Tom Tom’s, and Billy’s and Ackenzie’s, you have to share it, you can’t just keep it for yourself.”

“I feel like you might want to step in, _Ackenzie_ ," Will mutters, looking thoroughly amused by the exchange, and potentially by her renaming at the hands of their four year old.

"You know this is our own fault, don't you?" she asks, lifting his arms from where they're resting around her waist. "Donut, muffin, cake pop, it's a miracle they're not bouncing off the walls."

"But with every good sugar high comes a massive crash," he says, raising an eyebrows at her as she shakes her head.

"If you're thinking they might crash out to the point of sleep, you're dreaming," she says, grinning at him. "Thomas wouldn't nap in the day now if you paid him, and Henry slept half of the morning, they're good for _hours_ yet."

"Yeah, I thought that might be the case." He squeezes her shoulders and leans down to give her a quick kiss. "Alright, let's see if we can keep them amused for the afternoon, Ackenzie."

"You love that, don't you?" She grins again and pulls him towards the table where, for the moment, Thomas seems to be winning the battle of the cake pop and Henry has turned his attention back to his donut.

"I really do." He laughs and steps up to the table where both boys turns to look at him. "Alright guys, which of you is going to give Mommy back her cake pop?"


End file.
